Investors, who bought gold from banks, are in a fix as leading jewellery houses are not ready to buy it and the yellow metal cannot be sold back to banks either

Investors, who bought gold from banks, are in a fix as leading jewellery houses are not ready to buy it and the yellow metal cannot be sold back to banks either.

"We are not allowed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to buy back gold coins and bars sold by us," Amarjit Walia, assistant general manager, ICICI Bank, told PTI.

Banks cannot function as traders of commodities, including gold, RBI\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s chief general manager for communications, Alpana Killawala told PTI over the phone when asked about the reason behind the policy. She said, "Mere selling does not make a bank a trader. Trading encompasses both selling and buying. It is a sensitive issue, we are looking into it."

However, Mr Walia said, ICICI Bank may appeal to the RBI to review its policy to rescue investors. At present 23 banks are allowed by the RBI to import and retail gold.

Leading jewellery houses like PC Chandra and Sons and the Tata-run Tanishq chain, however, refuse to buy gold sold by banks.

A spokesman of PC Chandra & Sons said that it was a policy decision not to buy bank gold as "people can exchange such gold with our jewellery."

Alok Ranjan, regional business executive of Tanishq, a chain with country-wide presence said, "We cannot disturb our floating cash. Consumers may exchange the gold for jewellery, but in that case we deduct a substantial amount to neutralise our cost in melting gold and adding alloys like silver and copper to make it fit for making jewellery."

Anjali Jewellery director Ananya Chowdhury said, "Our position is the same as that of others. Moreover, we do not know whether the gold was genuinely procured or not. It is a security issue. We do not want to be dragged into legal hassles."

Usually, prices of gold sold by banks are higher than the market price. "We sell 24-carat Swiss gold," an official of HDFC Bank said.

The RBI spokesperson admitted that the central bank did not have any regulatory body to monitor prices.

Gold sold by banks cost around Rs2,000/10g more over the price sold by goldsmiths.

Bishnu Banerjee, a gold specialist of a leading jewellery house said, "Only Switzerland has the technology to purify raw gold up to 99.999%. It also has sophisticated weighing machines which can accurately measure the weight of gold."

The purity of Indian gold, he claimed, was far below that of Swiss gold and weighing machines here are also faulty.
Mr Banerjee said that banks in India were within their rights to charge more, but prices should not be that high. "Besides, all banks do not sell Swiss gold. Fixing higher prices for such gold (items) is a malpractice," he added.

A college teacher, Anirban Dutta said, "I want cash, not jewellery. How come I am refused when I have a bank certificate, income-tax returns and other required documents? It appears they do not want participation of banks in the gold market.”

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Food price inflation hovered around a decade's high of 19.95%, triggered by a short supply of essentials due to lower farm production, following drought and floods in various parts of the country during the year

Food inflation hovered around a decade's high of 19.95% as of 5th December, driven by costlier vegetables, pulses, milk, wheat and rice, even as economists said they expected the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hike rates to tame price rise, reports PTI.

On an annual basis, potato prices more than doubled at 136% and pulses became costlier by over 40%, while onion prices rose 15.4%. Other food items that became dearer include wheat (14%), milk (13.6%), rice (12.7%) and fruits (11%).

Food price inflation was triggered by a short supply of essentials owing to lower farm production following drought and floods in different parts of the country during the year.

The comprehensive wholesale price inflation, which includes manufactured products in addition to food and fuel items, soared to 4.78% in November from 1.34% in October.

"By the end of March 2010, it (inflation) could be close to 7%," prime minister's economic advisory council chairman C Rangarajan had said earlier this week. "We need to watch for behaviour of prices in December. Some action will be possibly taken by the RBI, which can have a moderating effect on inflation," said Mr Rangarajan, a former governor of the RBI.

The RBI, which keeps a close watch on inflation and growth, is slated to come out with its third quarterly review of monetary policy on 29 January 2010.

The RBI had earlier projected inflation towards the year-end at 5%, but later raised it to 6.5%.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has also said that rising inflation was a matter of concern. "There is inflationary pressure, particularly in food items. Even wholesale prices have gone up substantially, (with) about 19% inflation in food (items)," the minister said.

Food inflation in the last week of November stood at 19.05%.

On a weekly basis, the spike in prices was significant with urad and spices rising by 3% while milk rose by 2%. At the same time, maize, barley, pork, masur and wheat were costlier by 1% each. However, the prices of poultry chicken declined by 10% and tea by 2%. Among the non-food articles, raw jute turned expensive by 11% and mustard seed by 4%.

The fuel index declined during the week due to lower prices of aviation turbine fuel.

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The company, a unit of JM Financial (led by Nimesh Kampani), is looking to invest the fund mainly in residential projects within the next 9 to 12 months

JM Financial Ltd’s real-estate investment unit, Infinite India Investment Management Pvt Ltd, is planning to invest an additional $60 million to $80 million in a few projects over the next 9 to 12 months.

“We are looking at investing mainly in the residential segment, and residential-led mixed used developments. There is a huge demand in the residential sector among end-users. The investor market is also returning as compared to 2008 and the first half of 2009. In terms of price correction, significant correction has already taken place in this segment. In fact, we are seeing a marginal to reasonable rise in prices depending upon the markets,” said RK Narayan, director, Infinite India.

With the global slowdown, many investment funds have turned cautious and want to invest mostly in already completed projects or into projects that are about to be built in Tier I cities.

Infinite India is also identifying such projects, where work can be started immediately and which are located in city-centric locations.

“We are mostly looking at investing in projects where the land acquisition has been completed, and the project is just about to start,” said Mr Narayan, adding that the company is also planning to invest in large projects where it has the opportunity to invest in the subsequent phases of the project.

Infinite India is a part of the JM Financial group led by investment banker Nimesh Kampani. The real-estate investment company thinks that the current time is opportune for investing in realty.

“We have waited for an appropriate time for investing and now we think that it is the right time. Our focus continues to remain on residential properties, not so much on standalone commercial or retail (properties). We will also look at opportunities in warehousing and logistics parks, but primarily the ones which are sponsored by integrated players,” Mr Narayan added.